[blindkid] computers as school credit

[Richard Holloway]

That's great Mary. It is wonderful to be able to learn and improve on your own. My daughter is quick to go through manuals and explore and learn as well, especially on her BrailleNote. She's 10 now and has been doing this (exploring tech manuals and exploring on her equipment) for a few years at this point, so I would suggest is quite possible for many of our kids to do this. Kendra finds ways to do things when her (quite tech savvy) TVI is unaware of a number of the these options herself. 

Of corse Kendra has to have access to the equipment to begin with to be able to explore it. At only age 10, she has been fortunate to have access to a PAC Mate from age 3 at home, a Braille 'N Speak from around age 4 at school followed by a BrailleNote from around age 5 and she's had a BrailleNote at home daily and over summers as well as at school since first grade. She's had JAWS on her own computer since she was three. Embossers, thermoforms, Victor Readers, Library of Congress recordings and countless braille books both bound and electronically. She has worked on all of her skills at school with TVI's and at the center for the visually impaired in Atlanta after school and at camps, and her mother and I have worked with her on these matters as much as we're able.

When kids can't have the equipment (and support) through schools, it falls to parents to come up with it, but some parents cannot manage this. Fact of the matters is, the parents shouldn't have to. Also, when schools DO offer equipment but refuse to send it home overnight or over summer breaks, etc., opportunities to self-teach are extremely limited.

I think the main challenge here, is there's a certain amount of basic knowledge that each of our kids (or anyone) has to gain before he or she can self-teach effectively on these machines and systems, and while this is great when possible (when parents are able to provide some of this equipment to their kids and/or support the same), school systems should not be absolved of their responsibilities to teach equivalent materials and skills to our blind children which they teach to our kids' sighted peers. Nor should they attempt to avoid supplying needed equipment and materials, assuming the kids and their parents will solve these problems without school system support.

FAPE is about our kids' getting what is appropriate for "FREE", or so we are told. Seems to me when we are taxed and our tax money is spent for our needs, that really isn't "free" but that would be a different discussion, wouldn't it?

This to me is sort of like the notion that when we use our health insurance or car insurance for a claim we are being done some great favor and these companies are "giving" us money. No, they really aren't. They are fulfilling their end of a binding legal agreement for which we have all paid a lot of money. Sure, sometimes people get paid out more by insurance then they paid in, but usually the opposite is true.

I suggest that if we just take what the schools offer and don't demand what our kids are legally entitled to, we are actually telling our kids they are second-class citizens and that the back of the bus, so to speak, is just fine for them. That's not what I want for my daughter. We can be polite but firm with the schools and when they deny access or support to our children for equipment, school programs, or anything else, we as parents have to say, "no, that's not okay for my child, you're going to have to follow the law and provide what my child requires. You're going to provide what is APPROPRIATE".

For our daughter, we will continue to supplement all we can to enhance her learning opportunities, but we expect the basics, including needed equipment for her adapted educational needs to come from the school. Enough said.



On Sep 16, 2012, at 10:39 AM, Mary Donahue wrote:

> Hello Pat and everyone,
> 
> 	I agree both with my husband and Arielle that discovery and learning
> from a mentor are some of the best ways to learn when it comes to access
> technology. Here are some cases in point:
> 
> 	Back in 1984, I learned to use BrailleEdit and an apple computer by
> going through the BrailleEdit instruction manual, which I transcribed myself
> with the help of a co-worker and a Dictaphone machine. My supervisor at the
> time was tech-savvy, but was going through kidney dialysis three times a
> week, but could still be reached by phone even though he was off site.